Report on the prevention of malaria in Cyprus / by Sir Ronald Ross ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty.

  • Ross, Ronald, Sir, 1857-1932.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on the prevention of malaria in Cyprus / by Sir Ronald Ross ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    anti the sluggish, streams, and a very high spleen-rate among the children. On the 16th April llr. Cleveland and I visited the prison, the lunatic asylum, and the leper colony. Between the 12th and the 16th April I had the privilege of holding a number of informal meetings with the Acting Chief Secretary, Mr. Bolton, and with Dr. Cleveland and Mr. Nicolls, at which I had the opportunity of discussing with them a number of possible proposals for dealing with malaria in the Island. On the 17th April I embarked at Famagusta, en route for Greece, which I wished to re-visit in order to compare the conditions there with those which I had found in Cyprus. I arrived at Athens on the 25th April, and immediately set out for the Copais Valley, which I had studied seven years previously. On returning to Athens I was introduced by His Excellency the British Ambas- sador, Sir Francis Elliot, to His Excellency Mr. Venezelos, the Prime Minister of Greece; with whom, in company with Pro- fessor Savas, the President of the Greek Anti-Malaria League, I discussed several important points in connection with that subject, all of which had much bearing upon the prevention of malaria in Cyprus. On the same day I left for England, where I have had frequent opportunities of consulting His Excellency Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams. It should be understood that in these tours of inspection we studied principally the practical question of prevention, not so much in each locality as for the whole of the Island. We generally took the spleen-rates in the village schools, and then formed an idea as to the presence and nature of anopheline- breeding waters. But we could not pretend to do so sufficiently thoroughly to cover the whole of future work at each spot. Such investigation will have to be carried on slowly in the future by the organization which I recommend. Nevertheless, the tour of inspection actually made was, I think, quite sufficient to enable me to come to a conclusion regarding the principal points upon which I have been asked to advise. But I regret that I did not see several important officers with whom I should have liked to have conversed if I had had an opportunity of meeting them; and I should also have liked to have seen one or two of the larger villages, which I was forced to neglect in my itinerary. Detailed microscopic work upon patients was not at all required ; as this had already been done by Drs. Williamson and Cleveland and others. The entomological work on the mosquitoes of the Island has also been done in the past and will be continued in the future by the organization recommended by me, if this is adopted. 3. Interim Recommendations.—During my visit in Cyprus I was authorised by the High Commissioner to make any interim recommendations which I thought were urgently necessary and which might be feasible before this report could be prepared Consequently I made the following ones : — (1) A general spleen-census of the school children in the Island. (2) The issue of thirty grains of free quinine to every scholar suffering from enlarged spleen—that is, enough quinine